


Safe Bets

by theloverneverleaves



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec has a bad day, Alternate Universe - Mr. & Mrs. Smith Fusion, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Meetings, M/M, and then a good one?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 20:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12540768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theloverneverleaves/pseuds/theloverneverleaves
Summary: Alec is good at his job. Trained from an exceptionally young age, his physical and mental test scores make him one of the best agents at the Idris Corporation, which makes him the perfect candidate for a rather delicate job. It should be easy - break in, steal some papers, go home. But when does anything ever go to plan? And just when his day has gone from bad to worse, a tall, dark stranger walks into his life...aka. the mr & mrs smith / fake dating au





	Safe Bets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ohprongs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohprongs/gifts).



> written for my darling [charl](http://lightwoodlesbians.tumblr.com/), happy birthday my love! i know u love fake dating and spy stuff, so i did my best! aka this fic is heavily inspired by the start of mr and mrs smith and took on a life of its own from there.
> 
> love you, and as always find me at [isabellebiwoods](http://isabellebiwoods.tumblr.com)!

It wasn't supposed to go like this. All those years of warning Izzy and Jace to be careful, of being paranoid enough for the three of them and there he was. In decidedly hot water. Alone. 

He was supposed to be the mature one, Alec reminded himself as he ducked his head, a little, walking down the street towards his hotel, map in hand. Faking it as a tourist was the only reliable plan he had right now, given all the  _ other _ plans he’d had were currently lying in tatters on the floor somewhere. It was supposed to be an easy job, that was why he’d been sent alone. True, Alec Lightwood was one of the best agents that the Idris Corporation had. He would claim spot as the best if not for his siblings, but Jace and Izzy were just as good. But they were reckless, likely to tip the scales in unexpected ways and this was a delicate operation.

Had been a delicate operation. Past tense, Alec reminded himself, as more police charged down the street past him. 

It was a fairly simple mission on paper. Sneak into the government buildings, steal some documents, sneak out. The plan had been simple too. There were tourist groups going around the building nearly all the time, admiring the architecture of the grand building. Alec had simply inserted himself into one, and then gotten conveniently lost on the way to the bathroom. Lost enough to stumble across the secure safe where the documents were held. He had everything he needed to break it, it should have been easy.

Only the safe was already open. And empty. Which meant someone else had gotten there first. A rare phenomenon, really. Alec knew Idris had competition, sure, but to work in parallel so closely, to be chasing down the same thing at the same time and for Alec to miss it by such a narrow margin? 

It was infuriating. But he didn’t have time to stew on his failures, or how disappointed everyone would be in him when he got home. Right now he needed to get out of the line of fire. The police were looking for a male tourist travelling alone, which meant either he’d been spotted, or his competition had used the exact same path in he had. The pool of ‘solo male tourists’ was probably huge, but still, Alec was vividly aware that there were crosshairs on his back. He needed to get back to his hotel, and he needed to lie low. His flight home wasn’t until tomorrow, and changing his plans would only make him more suspicious to the authorities. 

Now was the time for delicacy. Everything had already gone wrong, but it could get a hell of a lot worse if he ended up in a local jail cell. 

Stepping off the street and up the steps to the main doors of his hotel, Alec breathed a sigh of relief. It was a reasonably upmarket hotel, popular with the tourist market and a perfect place to blend in. It was also within walking distance of the city centre, which had made it a perfect base. It was certainly upmarket enough that the police shouldn't bother him too much.

At least, that was what he thought until he walked into the foyer and found at least fifteen officers standing around, investigating the bar and anyone in the vicinity.

Shit. This day really couldn't get much worse, could it?

For a moment Alec considered backing out of the door and finding somewhere with considerably less law enforcement to hide. But before he could even process a plan, he'd been spotted, with an officer approaching him, looking rather stern. Alec's fingers clutched the map a little tighter. 

“Sir, are you alone?” the officer asked in rapid Spanish. Alec had been fluent in the language for as long as he could remember, but at that particular moment in time, Alec was fairly sure being an idiot tourist was the better option.

The police were a whole lot less likely to believe some stupid American tourist had managed to pull all this off than someone who seemed partially competent.

“Ah, sorry?” Alec replied in English, watching as a few more of the officers in the lobby came to join in. That definitely wasn't good.

“Are you traveling alone, sir? Where are your papers?”

“Look, I don't-” Alec started, ready to try and defend himself. Today had gone badly enough without him getting taken to the local police station.

“He's with me.”

A voice came from the bar to his left, and Alec turned, immediately catching eyes with the man who was stepping forward, leaving the officers at the bar frowning. His eyes widened slightly, his breath catching in his throat as Alec did his best to mask his reaction. He couldn't get caught. He had to sell this.

The man was stunning. A white shirt was open to his sternum, showing a glimpse of chest that looked near perfect. Tight black pants highlighted every inch of his legs, with combat boots completing the look. His fingers were covered in rings, and deep brown eyes held oceans inside them. He was unique and gorgeous, and that soft smile on his lips disarmed Alec in a way that made his whole brain seize.

Alec had been in relationships before. His parents had never been happy about him being gay, but they had grudgingly tolerated it. Alec's version of a relationship was usually a short lived affair that came to an end because Alec felt guilty about lying for too long. It wasn't like he could ever be honest about his job. Or his life. Or anything, really.

Other people didn't fit into the life of a secret agent very well. He'd learned that very early on, and never really forgotten it. 

But this… this was the kind of guy Alec would want to get to know better. If they'd met on a normal night, in a normal bar, Izzy would be urging him to talk to the guy, and Alec would flush a little, insisting he was fine before finally relenting. 

And that attractive, gorgeous guy was walking towards  _ him _ . 

The mystery man leaned closer, wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning in a little, pressing his lips to Alec’s cheek. Alec flushed, too distracted to listen to the police making vaguely derogatory comments about the embrace he was currently sharing with the man. 

“Where have you been? I’ve been lonely,” the man said, a slight pout on his lips, and Alec shrugged. He pulled himself together. He was a secret agent, trained in deception for years. He could get his act together enough to be a normal person around a pretty guy who had an arm around his waist. 

“I got lost,” Alec said apologetically, holding up the map, still clutched in his hand. The man laughed, shaking his head a little. God, what a laugh. It sounded like music, like something he could get used to hearing. 

Had he ever fallen for someone this quickly? Alec wasn’t sure.

“Come on, let’s go upstairs,” he murmured, slowly guiding Alec towards the elevators, that strong arm still tight around his body. Alec followed, holding his breath. All his training told him this was a bad idea. How could he be sure that this wasn’t some play to get him alone? What if his cover had been blown, if this was just some rival agent trying to get him out of the way? 

But Alec was always ready for a fight. And right now, his options were to pull away and draw the attention of the police once more, or to go with this mystery stranger and pray everything was fine. As much as the mystery stranger was probably the riskier option, Alec really didn’t feel like spending any time in a jail cell. 

His parents would probably have him killed, for a start.

There were a few other people in the elevator, which was pressed for space. Alec was pressed into a corner, his mystery man leaning close. Alec’s pulse raced, but regardless he reached down, tangling his fingers with the other man’s, taking a thrill in the feeling of just holding hands. It felt right, somehow. 

Not that it was enough to distract Alec from the very real chance he could still either get arrested or attacked, but hey. 

Leading the way out of the elevator on the third floor, Alec made his way towards his own room, determined that if this was going to happen he was at least going to have the higher ground. This guy could have a whole tactical team waiting upstairs. Alec wasn’t about to walk into that without a fight. 

As he walked down the hallway and saw the police knocking on doors, though, Alec became very aware of the fact that he was definitely fighting a war on two fronts. 

Reaching into his pocket for his keycard, Alec pushed the door open, letting the mystery man go first. He paused for a moment, nodding politely to the nearest police officer before heading inside. He immediately barred the door, putting the security bolt down. Risky, since he now couldn’t get  _ out _ , but at least no one else could get in without his knowledge. Not unless they climbed up onto his balcony, anyway.

The mystery man was standing by the french doors leading onto the balcony, the sun falling across his face. His skin practically glowed in the light, and Alec found his breath catch again. He looked like an angel, like some sort of mirage Alec had imagined out of a combination of stress, disappointment and vague panic. It didn’t seem real. But it was real, as Alec was reminded when the burner phone in his pocket vibrated loudly. It was probably Isabelle, checking in on him. He’d messaged Ops the moment he’d realised the mission was a bust. 

No doubt the office back at Idris was in chaos, trying to work out what had happened. Alec would be very interested in that answer too, but right now he needed to get home, which meant he had to survive the night. 

How hard could it be?

“I suppose I owe you a thank you,” Alec opened, stepping away from the door, placing the map down on the dresser. He kept his back to the door, but his body between his mystery visitor and the path out of the room. Just in case. 

“Likewise,” the man replied easily, looking back to Alec. The dance of light picked out the highlights in his dark hair. Blonde tips, Alec supposed. He hadn’t noticed those before. He hadn’t noticed a lot of things. He was distracted, something that Alec could never forgive himself for. His job involved him being better than this. He couldn’t afford to switch off, to stop paying attention. No matter how he felt.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Alec asked, moving forward a little, towards the window. The balcony looked onto the street, the rush of people below. There were police cars littered down the street, and men in uniform going in and out of every hotel. Some people were being escorted into vans. Alec exhaled softly. How close had it come to that being him? 

“Just that the police are looking for someone,” the man replied. “I’m sorry for ambushing you like that, but I didn’t much fancy spending the evening in a prison cell.”

“Me neither,” Alec agreed. He still wasn’t entirely sure what the other man’s motives were, but he hadn’t been attacked yet, so he’d have to take it as a plus.

“I’m Magnus, by the way,” he offered, holding out his hand. Alec took it, shaking it. It felt odd, after that embrace in the elevator.

“Alec,” he replied. No need for surnames. Or anything too identifying. Right?

There was a silence for a moment before Magnus sighed, reaching into his pocket for his phone, tapping out a message. Alec felt his pulse pick up a little. What if he was messaging for backup? What if this was the end? Alec wanted to smack the phone out of his hand, but that seemed too much. He didn’t want to come off as completely insane.

Especially not to someone so pretty. 

“I owe you a drink, really,” Magnus continued on, sliding his phone away after a moment. “I’m sorry about the whole… relationship thing, but I figured it was more likely to make them not want to investigate. You know what attitudes are like around here.”

Alec certainly did know. The looks the police had given him were evidence enough of all that.

“Yeah,” Alec replied, mind spinning. Really, he wasn’t much more accepted at home. The fact that no one wanted to talk about it was the clearest symbol of that. It was the big dirty secret that everyone knew, the elephant in the room no one wanted to mention. Alec Lightwood was gay, and everyone would be delighted if they could forget it. Most of the time, Alec let them. He had a job to do, and he couldn’t risk his career like that. 

“I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable,” Magnus added after a moment, misinterpreting the silence as reluctance. Alec started a little, glancing over to Magnus, who still looked like an angel in that light, a glow surrounding him. If he wasn’t so paranoid, maybe he could enjoy that drink.

“No! No… I uh… I’m actually… I mean,” Alec stammered a little, trying to wrap his mind around the words. He’d said them so few times that the thought of doing so now, in this empty hotel room, a thousand miles from home felt… strange. 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to -” Magnus started, but Alec shook his head. No. He was miles from home. He’d had a terrible, awful day, and he was most likely going to be in a whole heap of trouble when he got back to the office. He was stuck here overnight, and Magnus seemed nice enough. A little suspicious, but nice. Attractive as hell, and the kind of guy Alec definitely wouldn’t have minded spending some time with. Especially drinks date kind of time.

“I’m gay,” Alec declared, and Magnus shot him a hint of a smile. 

“Well then, gay Alec, why don’t you let me take you downstairs, pretend to be your boyfriend and buy you a drink?” Magnus offered. Alec chuckled softly.

“I would love that,” he said honestly. Maybe he was paranoid. Maybe this was all crazy. But for once in his life, Alec wanted to take a chance at having something real, in a life full of deceptions and lies and missions. And despite the situation, despite everything, he wanted to believe that this could be real. 

For once, he had hope.


End file.
